Infants and toddlers often explore their new world by touching and tasting virtually everything they come into contact with. Although parents and caretakers often take precautions at home to ensure that the surfaces of various objects are clean and safe for contact, the same precautions cannot be taken when traveling outside of the home.
The environment outside of the home provides numerous opportunities for infants and toddlers to hurt themselves, or to make themselves sick by contact with unclear surfaces. For example, a frequent place where parents and caretakers must bring their young children is the supermarket. Most supermarkets provide standard shopping carts which allow the consumer to collect and transport numerous objects with minimal physical burden. However, the supermarket is also a dangerous environment for young children as they explore thousands of new items presented in attractive and colorful packaging, many of which are very harmful for the child. Thus, while parents and caretakers must continue to conduct the necessary chore of shopping, the exposure of their children to the shopping environment presents a tense experience for the parent or caretaker.